Bridget PerrierSpeaker
Ani my name is Bridget Perrier my spirit name is Wasa quay meaning Women of Light.
Bridget Perrier was born to a Ojibaway woman who lovingly placed Bridget up for adoption so that she would have a better life. Bridget was raise in a large loving non native family. When Bridget was 8 years old she was sexually abused by a family friend, the pain that she felt had burdened her and by doing that she fell deep into the comforting arms that the streets had for her.

By 12 years old Bridget ended up been lured and debased into prostitution. She was bought and sold in brothels all over Canada.
At the age of 16 she became pregnant, to her joy gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who she named Tanner. At 9 months Tanner was diagnosed with Leukemia and bravely battled it for the next five years but through it Bridget remained on the streets and continued to struggle in and out of prostitution.

Bridget was on a one way path to self-destruction, incarceration and eventually her own death. Bridget found herself yet again in custody but for her own sake she had no time left, Bridget made bail and three days later her son passed away from his cancer in Bridget’s arms but Tanner made a death bed promise: for his mom to straighten up her life and do good. Tanner’s death impacted Bridget so much that she started her healing journey and exited the sex industry completely.

Bridget found healing within Toronto’s First Nations community. Bridget eventually went back to school she got into George Brown college and graduated The Community Worker Program. Bridget also was a recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Turning Point award in 2006.

Bridget as a First Nations woman has made it her mission to educate everyone about the real truths and stories that dispels the myths that Prostitution is a Choice. Bridget has gotten a second chance in motherhood and has been blessed with three beautiful daughters, and one special needs grandson, her daughters are active role models in the social justice movement. Recently Bridget accompanied her oldest daughter to the Missing Women’s Inquiry in Vancouver so that her daughter could speak about the loss of her Birth mother Brenda Wolfe. Bridget speaks from a First Nations perspective and feels that Prostitution truly effects and places Canada’s First Nations women at harms risk.

Perrier spoke to a group of high school students Nov. 4. She told them that the men who had sex with her were Crown attorneys, judges, teachers, police officers and social workers. “One of my clients told me that I looked like his daughter,” said Perrier. “When I asked him how old his daughter was he told me 16. I was 14 at the time.”
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Perrier was among a handful of former sex-trade workers from across Ontario and British Columbia who protested in front of the Ontario Superior Court Tuesday in light of a landmark decision last week which struck down three federal prostitution laws as unconstitutional.
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By the time Bridget Perrier was 14 she was turning tricks on the street and for escort services. “You’re like herded cattle. You go in front of the madam; she takes a look to see if you’re going to make money (and) asks you what nationality you are… You can’t tell me they didn’t know (I was underage),” she said.
Perrier was often trafficked between Toronto and Thunder Bay, Ont. She claimed authorities never asked her for identification or consent.
“I was exploited by people around me who were put in place to protect me,” she said.
Perrier insisted that human trafficking is a global problem and that Canada is not immune; she said the problem exists especially in aboriginal communities.
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Where 'No Body Hears You'
By Tamara Cherry, Toronto Sun

Perrier got out of jail three days before five-year-old Tanner died of a terminal disease. His wish was that she not go back to work, and she didn't. She had been turning tricks for 10 years, since she was 13.

"I made a decision, that was it. I was going to tell my story and I was going to change the way people view women like me," the 33-year-old Ojibwa woman says.
In her previous life, Perrier was sexually exploited by a group-home worker and a lawyer. She sold "survival sex." She watched friends die; she watched friends vanish. She wanted to stop earlier, she says, but there were no supports in place for her to do so..."
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'Myth of prostitution as a choice must be challenged' - Human Trafficking Conference
Amsterdam and other jurisdictions with sanctioned red-light districts have proven legalized prostitution results in more organized crime and more underaged girls in prostitution, said Perrier. A legal sex-for-sale industry expands the market for trafficked girls and women.
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